1. Field of the Invention
The preset invention relates to a game program, particularly to a game program for implementing a game on a computer in which a character and a moving object are displayed on a monitor, and the moving object is dispatched by a character by means of a controller operation. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a game device and a game method implemented with this game program.
2. Background Information
Various games have been proposed in the past. One such game is a competitive video game, such as a baseball video game, wherein characters and moving objects are displayed on a monitor and a competitive sport is played. These types of baseball video games includes a video game in which a person playing the video game will operate the player characters on his or her own team with a controller and score points against another team, a game in which the game itself is primarily operated automatically and the video game player will enjoy the game from the position of a team manager, and the like. With the former game, the player characters of the video game player's team are configured to be able to hit and throw the ball when the team engages in offense and defense when the video game player operates the player characters of his or her own team with the controller. For example, when a player character is the pitcher, the video game player will cause the pitcher character to throw the ball to the catcher character by indicating the destination of the ball (the position of the catcher character's mitt) and the start of the throwing motion of the pitcher character with the controller. The velocity of the pitch thrown by the pitcher character is determined based on the pitcher character's ability in accordance with the type of pitch specified by the video game player, and the timing at which the video game player commands the pitcher character to throw the ball. Here, the type of pitch specified by the video game player is set by operation of the controller before the video game player commands the pitcher character to start a throwing motion. When a ball is thrown by the pitcher character, the ball trajectory is set in accordance with the type of pitch. Then, the estimated passage position of the ball will be displayed in an estimated passage display area that is set above the home plate in accordance with the ball's position in the ball trajectory, and is set to move in the estimated passage display area. The estimated passage position of the ball is displayed in the estimated passage display area with a cross-shape marking, for instance. This cross-shape marking moves in the estimated passage display area. The estimated passage display area corresponds to a hitting area in which the batter character hits the ball with a bat. The estimated passage position is used for predicting the position in which the ball approaching the estimated passage display area while moving in the ball trajectory will be hit by the bat. Note that the estimated passage display area includes the strike zone of the batter character, and if the ball that approaches the estimated passage display area has passed the strike zone, the pitch will be judged as a strike, and if the ball that approaches the estimated passage display area has not passed the strike zone, the pitch will be judged as a ball. See, for example, Perfect Play Professional Baseball, Konami Official Perfect Play Guide Book (Konami Official Perfect Play Series), Konami Corporation, Apr. 22, 2003, p. 12-p. 24.
In a conventional video game such as a baseball video game, if the pitcher character throws the ball, the estimated passage position of the ball will be displayed in the estimated passage display area that is set above the home plate with the cross-shape marking in accordance with the position of the ball in the ball trajectory, and this cross-shaped marking is set to move in the estimated passage display area. The video game player who operates the batter character will predict the position in which the ball will be hit by the bat in the estimated passage display area (i.e., the hitting area), while watching the movement of the estimated passage position displayed with the cross-shape marking. However, it has been difficult for a video game player to predict the subsequent direction of movement of the ball in advance by using only the cross-shape marking indicating the estimated passage position in the hitting area. In addition, the velocity of the ball thrown by the pitcher character will be determined in accordance with the pitcher character's ability and the timing in which the pitcher character releases the ball. However, it has been impossible for a video game player to grasp the velocity of the ball thrown by the pitcher character by using only the cross-shape marking indicating the estimated passage position in the hitting area.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved game program, game device, and game method that will make it easy for a video game player to predict the direction of movement of a moving object in advance by using the estimated passage position of the moving object in an estimated passage display area, and will make it possible for a video game player to grasp the power of the moving object by using the estimated passage position of the moving object in the estimated passage display area. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.